Archive for January, 2009

The story of Shaun Dykes is somewhat endemic of the sorry state of affairs in which our society finds itself. We may often speculate at the breakdown of social responsibility and conscience but it is rare to find an example in which it is so tragically highlighted. It is also easy to look back on our pasts with the classic rose-tinted spectacles that make us forget the dark and drearier side of life in those days. However my recollections are not entirely clouded, I have some fond memories of decades past and also some less-cherished, I remember the 1970’s having rather a lot of brown, the 1980s as being a decade for the materialist and the individualist. I also remember going by bus to school in London on my own from the age of six, because everybody did.

I do not remember situations where there was an utter and systemic breakdown in social cohesion, though if it is merely that I was too young to notice I would be happy to take corrections on this, this has not happened overnight it has been a creeping malaise permeating through the letter boxes, and imprinted in the newspapers and now we must look into the black hole it has created and see what we have become as a society, as a race. The case of Shaun Dykes shows us into what we have (d)evolved and we should be ashamed. It is all very well for people to be looking back on such an event with horror (Daily Mirror) but where are the studies into the causes of such actions and attitudes, where is the public enquiry to fully turn the mirror on ourselves and look at just what a cruel and heartless nation this is? Chief Superintendant Andy Hough thinks that although the city of Derby lost some of its humanity that day that many of the people who taunted and took photos will have gone home and not liked what they saw in the mirror. I wish I shared his optimism, I wish I were even convinced it was optimism and not merely a brushing of the case under the carpet.

The measures being looked at are now to raise the fencing on the roof of the shopping centre, which apparently is already quite high, as well as to give the police powers to cordon off an area before any crime has been committed and to train local staff to be able to assess those that might be of risk of suicide. Are these really the sort of measures that are likely to do any good, surely these are counter-measures used when a problem has occurred and not likely to tackle to root causes in any way shape or form. Of course cordoning off an area might well save the life of someone in a similar situation again but it is not going to change the mindsets of those who seem utterly profligate with the notion of life and have only contempt for the value of the existence of others.

A young man is dead, he had undoubtedly his problems that led to him being on a high ledge threatening to jump in the first place but he was pushed over the edge by the ambivalence and antipathy of the crowd below who declared that he was wasting taxpayer’s money. I would like to ask any other taxpayer out there if they would rather the police were engaged in activities such as attempting to talk down a depressed youth or if they are better employed in Stop And Search tactics and administering ASBOs? It is to my mind a great pity that CCTV in Derby is not being used to find the callous individuals responsible for such actions who, in the words of the coroner, “are responsible, at least in part, for his death.”

It is a disgrace and I am saddened and disgusted to be a resident of a country that would not only allow this to happen but make such little attempt to change anything thereafter. You reap what you sow Britain – if you haven’t learnt that from this example then perhaps you never will and this cycle is destined to repeat itself over and over.

I appreciate that since I have hardly been productive over the last number of months that I should make little fanfare of the event but I did want to mark the occasion that sees my writing enter its sixth year now. It is a long way since the timid start, I shall leave it to the reader whether that has been ground covered or ground lost!